Pittsburgh bald eagles lay 1st egg of 2021; marks 9th year nesting on Hays hillside

The Pittsburgh Hays female bald eagle laid her first egg of the season Friday evening.

A live nest cam captured the egg for the first time shortly before 6 p.m.

The female eagle returned to the nest just before 5 p.m., then ate “a food gift brought by the Hays male” eagle prior to laying the egg, reports PixCams, which operates the video feed in partnership with the Audubon Society of Western Pennsylvania.

The pair typically rears one to two chicks each year. Several eggs typically get laid sequentially about two to three days apart, then incubate for 35 days before they begin to hatch. While incubating, the adult eagles will take turns keeping the nest “constantly” attended, the Audubon Society reports.

Not all of the eggs may hatch into eaglettes.

The Hays bald eagles have staying power: They are in their ninth season on the same steep hillside overlooking the Monongahela River and the Three Rives Heritage Trail, in an urban environment bustling with a railroad, scrap yard, the Glenwood Bridge and busy roads in Pittsburgh’s Hays neighborhood.

“This pair of birds is comfortable in an urban environment; not all eagles would be,” said Jim Bonner, executive director of the Audubon Society of Western Pennsylvania.

The birds are apparently used to nearby camera as well. PixCam, based in Murrysville, developed the first webcam on the Hays nest in 2014. Audubon and PixCams sponsor the live, 24-hour webcam on the birds. Each organization offers a link to the livestream and its own chat room.

Anticipation for the 2021 nesting season has been great, said Bill Powers, owner of PixCams. Webcam views have been on the rise in the run-up to egg laying as the webcam has been in operation the entire year, capturing the birds’ casual visits, adding branches for “nestorations” and mating near the nest.

“We are looking forward to another great eagle season,” Powers said.

The Hays pair has raised 12 offspring in all since 2013. The was one eaglette in 2013; three in 2014; none in 2015; two in 2016; one in 2017; one in 2018; two in 2019 and two last year.

RELATED: First eaglet of the season hatched at Hays bald eagle nest

When bald eagles were endangered and populations in the 1960s plummeted to near extinction, researchers learned a lot about the raptors’ nesting preferences. They found that eagles were easily frightened off their nest when disturbed.

Fast forward decades later, the birds have rebounded and are no longer endangered. Some eagles have been adapting to urban, suburban and developed areas.

“There were and are a lot of eagles living along our rivers in the winter that are not comfortable nesting here,” Bonner said. The Hays birds obviously liked their site along the Monongahela River, he said. “The birds concluded that the spot is good — and they’ll put up with the neighbors. Their young will end up being urban eagles.”

The Pennsylvania Game Commission requires the public to obey a 1,000-foot perimeter around active eagle nest in the state.

“What can be detrimental is if you try to get above them, that is more of a threat to them,” said Douglas Bergman, a Pennsylvania Game Commission game warden who covers part of Allegheny County.

The Game Commission’s mission is to manage wild birds and mammals and their habitats.